USA

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A quake with a magnitude as large as 7.1 jolted much of California, cracked buildings, set fires, broke roads and caused several injuries, authorities and residents said.

The quake — preceded by Thursday’s 6.4-magnitude temblor in the Mojave Desert — was the largest Southern California temblor in at least 20 years and was followed by a series of large and small aftershocks.

5 July 2019; DW: Mice infected with HIV ended up virus-free after US researchers were able to remove it from their cells for the first time, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications  this week.

Researchers at Temple University in Pennsylvania and the University of Nebraska developed a two-step approach to eliminate the AIDS-causing virus from the genomes of the mice.

WASHINGTON, July 4 (Xinhua) -- One person is in custody after several people were stabbed Thursday at a plasma donation center in Petersburg, eastern U.S. state of Virginia, according to CNN's affiliate WTVR.

Petersburg Police Chief Kenneth Miller said at a press conference that the police arrested an unidentified suspect without incident at the Octapharma Plasma Center after the attack.

The suspect was not shot and a "cutting instrument" was recovered from the scene, according to local media reports.

WASHINGTON, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Two protesters were arrested outside the White House on Thursday for "burning an American flag outside the limits of a permit that had been issued by the National Park Service," according to the U.S. Secret Service.

One person was arrested for felony assault on a police officer and malicious burning, and the other was arrested for obstructing a police investigation and resisting arrest, said a report of U.S. political website The Hill quoting Secret Service officials.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Police in Poulsbo city in the U.S. western state of Washington shot dead a man during a fireworks show on the eve of U.S. Independence Day on July 4, a Washington online newspaper reported Thursday.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer quoted the Poulsbo Police Department as saying that police officers received reports of a man threatening people as a large crowd were converging at Waterfront Park of Poulsbo city to watch the fireworks show on the eve of the U.S. celebration of "Fourth of July" Independence Day.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The June jobs report being released Friday will likely help determine whether the U.S. economy has stabilized or is gradually weakening.

The evidence is conflicting. Consumer spending has solidified. Home sales are rebounding. But America’s manufacturing sector is slowing along with construction spending. Growth in the services sector, which includes such varied industries as restaurants, finance and recreation, slowed in June.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, the only Republican in Congress to call for impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, said Thursday he is leaving the GOP because he has become disenchanted with partisan politics and “frightened by what I see from it.”

In an opinion article published in the Washington Post , on July 4, Amash said partisan politics is damaging American democracy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cruising around Caracas in a convoy with five cellphones full of valuable contacts, Gen. Manuel Cristopher Figuera displayed trappings that befitted his reputation as a loyal soldier who rose from an upbringing in a dirt-floored hut to become Venezuela’s spy chief.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump celebrated the story of America as “the greatest political journey in human history” in a Fourth of July commemoration before a soggy but cheering crowd of spectators, many of them invited, on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial. Supporters welcomed his tribute to the U.S. military while protesters assailed him for putting himself center stage on a holiday devoted to unity.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The strongest earthquake in 20 years shook a large swath of Southern California and parts of Nevada on Thursday, rattling nerves on the July 4th holiday and causing injuries and damage in a town near the epicenter, followed by a swarm of ongoing aftershocks.

The 6.4 magnitude quake struck at 10:33 a.m. in the Mojave Desert, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles, near the town of Ridgecrest, California.